Meaning & Origins

Pet form of any of the given names beginning with the letter D- (compare Jay and Kay), in particular Dorothy. It is also used as an independent name, and may in some cases be associated with the River Dee (compare Clyde).

English: status name for a young knight or novice at arms, Middle English and Old French bacheler (medieval Latin baccalarius), a word of unknown ultimate origin. The word had already been extended to mean ‘(young) unmarried man’ by the 14th century, but it is unlikely that many bearers of the surname derive from the word in that sense.